Timeline Delayed But Moving Forward

Strike threats and poor weather have caused director Richard Donner and his production crew their share of headaches. Timeline is still in pre-production, and principle photography will not begin for at least another six months, thanks to some of these hurdles.

About.com sat down for an interview with Donner to discuss the production. "Because of what we thought was going to be a strike here, we got delayed a whole year," Donner told them. "And I can't shoot. [Timeline] takes place in Europe and I can't shoot and it's all exteriors. So I can't shoot until the spring in Europe, otherwise I'm into a rainy season and four hours of daylight. Because of this proposed strike I lost a whole year of my life, so we'll start preparing it by October and shoot it starting the end of February."

Written by sci-fi/medical thriller author Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Sphere), Timeline is a tale about university archaeology students who travel back in time to 14th century France. Far from our docile, romanticized conceptions, however, Crichton portrays the Middle Ages as tough, brutal, and deadly &#Array; a world that 20th century visitors are not equipped to deal with. Most of the story thus takes place in Medieval villages and castles, and it is these scenes that have made the trek to Europe necessary for the production.

Donner was also asked how closely the movie script follows Crichton's novel. "[The script] is the essence of the book," Donner explains. "It's the reason you wanted to make the movie. Characters have come to life a little different. We had to obviously size down a tremendous amount. In so doing, we lost a couple of people, but is it true to the book? I think cinematically if you read the book and then you see the movie, you're going to come away and not be disappointed."

Donner wouldn't say which characters had been cut from the screenplay. However, casting is in currently in progress. So far, Scottish actor Gerard Butler (Dracula 2000) and Paul Walker (The Fast and the Furious) have been cast in two of the lead roles.